Has Boards changed your outlook on life?

JollyBustard

Possibly a bit of a random one but sure why not.

I've been lurking on Boards for the past few months having discovered it while bored in work. Now it's pretty much a daily stop in for me to keep up on the latest news, opinions and I'm generally in awe at people's smarts, humour and rationalised opinions (I've yet to figure out how to make sense without rambling :rolleyes:). Ye're all great, in yisser own ways.

Personally though, I've noticed that some threads can occasionally revert to particular common themes, notably those on social welfare, millennials, politic(ian)s etc (negative comments, a lot of the time) and I've realised that in the last few weeks I'm much more anti some things I wouldn't have cared about in times gone by. EG, never gave two hoots about 'lifers', or council housing but now I'm of the mind-set that they can go down the bogs to free up space in the cities, unless they decide to actively contribute. I consider myself mild-mannered normally as well, but Boards gets me riled up about these and other issues (and I know I've shot myself in the foot by bringing up that particular example in my opening post ).

So, my question is, has Boards affected how you think about issues/brought them to the constant forefront of your mind? Or do you even care?

Note: I know that the human psyche is all about fitting in, and it's probably just an indoctrination thing because so many people have similar outlooks on extremely common themes on here. I'm just wondering if it's just me who's changed since discovering this mostly* marvellous forum.

*Sometimes I just have to give up on a thread because it's too frustrating following an argument that might be stuck in a rut.

me_irl

Whenever I open a packet of ham, I now notice a foul fart-like odour thanks to boards.

You can never un-smell it.

Donald Trump

Reading the posts on it convinced me to run

I also use it as a source of inspiration for most of my "policies"

Take that world!

me_irl

Donald Trump wrote: »

Reading the posts on it convinced me to run

I also use it as a source of inspiration for most of my "policies"

Take that world!

You make a mean steak.

partyguinness

OP,

Get back to work. You are clearly bored as this thread is a complete non-runner.

Trust me- I've been here nearly 10 years.

Jesus...did I just write 'nearly 10 years' on this site.

Rubberchikken

To answer your question - no.
I'm as cynical and suspicious as I ever was. Reading posts here justify my staying that way.

Pac1Man

Yes, more grateful. Some people go through some awful stuff.

Boom_Bap

Number of people who have swayed their opinion on a topic after discussion on boards: 0

riffmongous

JollyBustard wrote: »

Possibly a bit of a random one but sure why not.

I've been lurking on Boards for the past few months having discovered it while bored in work. Now it's pretty much a daily stop in for me to keep up on the latest news, opinions and I'm generally in awe at people's smarts, humour and rationalised opinions..

Stopped reading at this point, you lost me there OP

eamonnq

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Number of people who have swayed their opinion on a topic after discussion on boards: 0

1

Donald Trump

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Number of people who have swayed their opinion on a topic after discussion on boards: 0

I used to firmly believe that it was 1. Now after reading your post I believe that you are correct and it is in fact 0

Boom_Bap

Donald Trump wrote: »

I used to firmly believe that it was 1. Now after reading your post I believe that you are correct and it is in fact 0

There was 1 time where it was believe that an opinion changed, but it turned out to be a typo.

elperello

partyguinness wrote: »

OP,

Get back to work. You are clearly bored as this thread is a complete non-runner.

Trust me- I've been here nearly 10 years.

Jesus...did I just write 'nearly 10 years' on this site.

You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-WPH6AiA1w

The_Valeyard

Ive been wrongly murdered and lynched on boards.

keith_sixteen

Poll is biased.

drake70

Rubberchikken wrote: »

To answer your question - no.
I'm as cynical and suspicious as I ever was. Reading posts here justify my staying that way.

This goes for me too

Arghus

It's made me realise that there's more angry men on the internet than there are in real life.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Esel

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Ive been wrongly murdered and lynched on boards.

We should have lynched you, then murdered you.

Zerbini Blewitt

Like many others, I have formed a lavish set of multiplexed, fine-grained, inter-leaved & radicalised opinions:-

some based on a kind of futurama zeitgeist
some mutually contradictory (long story)
some theoretically obsolete (long story)
& some I would now defend to the end of days

about the bogger uniform of bootcut jeans, Jack Jones shirts & brown shoes that I hitherto hadn’t thought about all that much.

In some ways, I look back on my pre-AH fashion sense with a tinge of mild shame & sadness

partyguinness

elperello wrote: »

You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-WPH6AiA1w

Just like Facebook...:(

harry Bailey esq

Zerbini Blewitt wrote: »

Like many others, I have formed a lavish set of multiplexed, fine-grained, inter-leaved & radicalised opinions:-

some based on a kind of futurama zeitgeist
some mutually contradictory (long story)
some theoretically obsolete (long story)
& some I would now defend to the end of days

about the bogger uniform of bootcut jeans, Jack Jones shirts & brown shoes that I hitherto hadn’t thought about all that much.

In some ways, I look back on my pre-AH fashion sense with a tinge of mild shame & sadness

I also miss bismark

keith_sixteen

Arghus wrote: »

It's made me realise that there's more angry men on the internet than there are in real life.

Could not agree with you more Arghus, you prick.

KERSPLAT!

Yep. I've learnt an awful lot from boards. I've come to understand differing opinions, met lots of great people some of who are now great friends and at times, my outlook on life has certainly changed after reading some threads/posts.

lazybones32

I've learned that cyclists are a$$holes; vegans are a$$holes; mods are @ssholes; practising mindfulness won't make you an @sshole but not shutting up about mindfulness makes you an @sshole. I've learned that lefties are bigger @ssholes than i'd given them credit for.

I use this site for entertainment.

Ipso

The conspiracy theory forum makes me feel better about myself.

BillyBobBS

I've learned that boards isn't an accurate indicator of the thoughts of the majority in Ireland.

tomwaterford

Gotten to know all sorts through it,and found out things id never known without it!!


But also learned alot about small simple improvements that could be done to the farm at home and make massive differences

Erik Shin

No, hasn't changed my outlook on life...
Boards has some good people....some dicks...some people I'd like to meet and quite a few I wouldnt piss on if they were on fire

Doltanian

If anything it has made me more right wing when I read the sort of thrash spouted out here by the politically correct losers which spend half their lives posting here.

retro:electro

I would actually say it has. Sometimes, no matter how staunchly in favour of something you may be- there'll always be something that someone says that makes you think and second guess your stance. It's good to thrash things out and read everyone's views expounded on a forum. There's rarely anything I read that's outrageously offensive. People can articulate their views really well here, and in much more detail than you get in everyday conversation, where you wouldn't always get the opportunity to have your opinion challenged.

Widdershins

No, it hasn't changed my outlook on life, it's really not that impressive, but it's made me aware of certain types of people and views that people mightn't admit to in person. It's made me aware of an ugly side to people.

KERSPLAT!

Widdershins wrote: »

No, it hasn't changed my outlook on life, it's really not that impressive, but it's made me aware of certain types of people and views that people mightn't admit to in person. It's made me aware of an ugly side to people.

Aye, it certainly opens your eyes alright.

retro:electro

But it has also made me realise that just because some people don't agree with you on certain topics, it doesn't make them bad people, so it would be unfair to make a whole judgement on them based on an opinion in a forum. I could be engaged in a heated discussion with a poster on one thread, and agree with them and thank their posts on another. I think the people who take the bitterness from harmless debate are doing themselves more harm than good, and it's actually a reflection on how they see the world, rather than how the world actually is.

dr.fuzzenstein

It made me realise that sometimes in a discussion a consensus can't be reached and you'll have to he OK with it.
Especially when people are disagreeing not out of conviction, but merely to stir the pot.
Sometimes it's a playground fight.
anna080, snap.

It hasn't changed my outlook but it has so far been a positive experience for me. I enjoy reading the different opinions and feeling like I get a glimpse in to other peoples lives and experiences. There's a huge wealth of knowledge on boards. I haven't a clue about weather but lurk over in that forum a bit and those guys are geniuses with their charts and predictions.

Now and then a thread here will appear that makes me a bit teary eyed or laugh out loud. There was a recent one where posters were offering phone numbers and support to a person in distress. Boards doesn't make me despair for humanity but the opposite. People who are willing to help others.

myshirt

Feminism and the arguments put forward by feminists. I never got it.

I always viewed and thought men and women were equal. For me, the enemy was fat middle aged unmarried female academics who are deeply unhappy with themselves. Fat middle aged female academics who need to peddle a load of falsehoods that no competent labour economist would stand over, these are the enemy.

However, thanks to boards I now understand that the real enemy is a patriarchal capitalistic society that maintains its ascendency by making powerful and ambitious women seem threatening only to protect my status as a man in a system purposefully designed to benefit men like me and perpetuate an unequal social structure that disproportionately strips women and gay people of their autonomy and seeks to subjugate them to an inveterate and intentionally antagonistic androcratic order set out to destroy them and discriminate against them in favour of men.

How could I have been so stupid?

entropi

Arghus wrote: »

It's made me realise that there's more angry men on the internet than there are in real life.

12 I think it was...yes. 12 angry men.

Widdershins

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

Aye, it certainly opens your eyes alright.

Yes!

Actually it reminds me of the cast of Calvary at times. Kind of cynical or something. But there are nice posts, nice people and some really interesting threads sometimes.

Wibbs

It made me more I dunno... measured believe it or not. I'd generally be more "in your face" in Real Life™. Or was anyway. Not aggressive as such, if anything I'm pretty easy going, but more likely to go for the jugular in a debate. I'm far less "politically correct" in Real Life™, so that gets dialled back here. Probably a good thing.

mohawk

No I don't think so. I don't think I have changed.

Most of my Facebook friends would be people I went to school, college or worked with and typically would have a similar outlook to me. It basically results in that 'echo chamber' effect in my newsfeed that the media goes on about. I only use it for groups now. Reddit can be just as bad depending on the topic.
On here I see more of the other sides argument/ opinions which is only a good thing. I might not change my mind but I can respect that the people have their own opinions on a topic even if they are literally the opposite of mine.

World would be pretty boring place if we were all the same.

JollyBustard

So the consensus I'm getting seems to be that no one's changed overmuch but there's more of an acceptance to acknowledge where other people are coming from when they don't necessarily agree with your own outlook?

And that's mainly facilitated by Boards not being as much of an 'echo chamber' as other social sites where you're more inclined to block anyone whoe doesn't have the same opinions as you, so there's actual debate available as opposed to being stuck in a like-minded bubble. (thanks for reminding me of the term echo chamber, mohawk - it's exactly what I was trying to get at in my original post)

sbsquarepants

Erik Shin wrote: »

...some people I'd like to meet and quite a few I wouldnt piss on if they were on fire

I don't know - some people are into this kinda thing I suppose - but I dislike the idea of being pissed on and it would already be counting it as a bad day if I had somehow caught fire.

If you do ever see me on fire, throw a blanket over me, or better still a bucket of nice clean cold water. Personally I wouldn't thank you for pissing on me in that situation. Once the burns healed - there would be fisticuffs.


Oh, and to answer your OP question - I voted no, but now that I think of it - probably yes. I've always tried to be open minded, but I've had conversations on here with people that I just wouldn't ever have met in real life and been exposed to points of view completely alien to my own, hopefully it has broadened my mind a bit. I think it probably has.

It has also made me considerably less productive in work:D

Widdershins

JollyBustard wrote: »

So the consensus I'm getting seems to be that no one's changed overmuch but there's more of an acceptance to acknowledge where other people are coming from when they don't necessarily agree with your own outlook?

And that's mainly facilitated by Boards not being as much of an 'echo chamber' as other social sites where you're more inclined to block anyone whoe doesn't have the same opinions as you, so there's actual debate available as opposed to being stuck in a like-minded bubble. (thanks for reminding me of the term echo chamber, mohawk - it's exactly what I was trying to get at in my original post)

Well not for me personally anyway. I don't block people for not having the same opinion as me on Facebook (I don't use other sites). I'm in a couple of groups with people of vastly differing opinions and it's interesting to hear their angle on things. There's no tension on the groups or FB that I've noticed though.

I thought Irish secondary schools had debate clubs. Maybe not all of them.

sbsquarepants

I've never understood the thought process behind blocking anybody - ok if you're being abused or harassed or something - but just because you can't manage to hear a contradictory opinion - jaysus, grow the fúck up!

It's the online version of sticking your fingers in your ears and going, "na, na, na, na, I can't hear you" and about as mature as doing so too!

Nettle Soup

I see ISIS behind every corner now.

Widdershins

Wibbs wrote: »

It made me more I dunno... measured believe it or not. I'd generally be more "in your face" in Real Life™. Or was anyway. Not aggressive as such, if anything I'm pretty easy going, but more likely to go for the jugular in a debate. I'm far less "politically correct" in Real Life™, so that gets dialled back here. Probably a good thing.

People are rarely so keen for an argument nor do they ask for links in real life

pilly

I don't think Boards has changed my opinion on anything. It does make me wonder if it's really reflective of society and if there are that many bitter angry people out there who just don't express their views in real life?

Some threads make me laugh out loud which I love and the pets thread always cheers me up on a dull day.

begbysback

Boards has completely changed my outlook - I now forward all mail received from @boards.ie to junk folder

Widdershins

Widdershins wrote: »

People are rarely so keen for an argument nor do they ask for links in real life

One of the reasons I don't get too involved in the more robust discussions around here is my lack of links. I have all of these opinions and views but zero evidence to back them up:p

Erik Shin

[Deleted User] wrote: »

One of the reasons I don't get too involved in the more robust discussions around here is my lack of links. I have all of these opinions and views but zero evidence to back them up:p

Oh i love an online argument.... And if anyone wants a link....